Negotiating Truth Blog by Steven G. Blum

In a recent speech, President Obama announced support for a Department of Labor initiative to impose a fiduciary duty on those who give advice about tax deferred retirement investments such as IRA accounts. It is a modest proposal. Judging by the howls emanating from an industry … [Read more...]

There are a great many practices, behaviors, and skills that set great negotiators apart from more typical bargainers. Indeed, enough to fill an entire book.
Probably the single most important of these, however, is preparation. To put it plainly, the best … [Read more...]

Most of what you do in your financial life involves negotiating. In particular, investing is a series of negotiations.
As an investor, you seek a deal in which you will exchange payment for some instrument that (hopefully) will appreciate in value.
This may be a stock (an … [Read more...]

I sometimes ponder how brokers and advisors choose this fund over that one.
After all, economic theory suggests that they all tend to perform in tandem with others investing in the same asset class. In such a case, the lion’s share of performance variation will be attributable … [Read more...]

When contemplating a potential investment, how can you know if it is fairly priced? Such a determination is critically important since even the best company will prove a poor investment if its stock is purchased too dear. Paying a fair price for an investment vehicle is just as … [Read more...]

About Steve

Steven G. Blum has been teaching in the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania since 1994.

In addition to teaching semester-long courses for undergraduate and MBA students, Mr. Blum has taught in Wharton Executive Education programs, lectured and consulted widely, and frequently leads seminars and educational forums. Mr. Blum has five times won the William G. Whitney Award for outstanding teaching.

He holds the degrees of Masters of Laws and Juris Doctor. He also earned a Masters Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Specialization in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard. In addition to teaching and consulting, Steven maintains a practice of law and is a registered investment advisor. He has a strong research interest in the area of ethics and fiduciary duty. His book entitled Negotiating Your Investments was published by Wiley in April 2014.